totally inept balcony gardener: Sometimes the darkness can be truly illuminating

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sometimes the darkness can be truly illuminating

I knew that my late-sown, yellow zucchini was finally starting to grow larger, and I could see the ails of powdery mildew (inevitable after our warm Autumn hail ridden downpour) creeping in, but only when I was floucing around the balcony taking night shots at 10pm did I really see the extent of the damage. White shows up well with flash and the black contrast of might left nothing to the imagination. Milk spray was applied, let's hope it works! I even had to buy full cream milk for the task (I am a skim, lactose free milk girl myself) so now I have to work out a way to use the rest of it up.

7 comments:

Funkbunny said...: Hmm, I think I have this on my late-planted zucchini too. THanks for reminding me that I need to do something!; March 17, 2010 at 12:20 PM
Jamie said...: You need to keep on re-applying the milk spray every few days, Prue, so you'll probably just slowly use up all that full-cream milk.

And I've heard so many conflicting opinions about whether you need full cream milk or not that I don't know what to think any more. Some original research I read on it a couple of years back, done in South Australia in the wine industry, said any milk would be fine.; March 17, 2010 at 12:56 PM
yellow thumb said...: Hi Prue,

Powdery Mildew is something I am coming to know well in my garden!

I was trying the Milk spray for a while but found it to be better as a preventive than a cure so on another gardeners advice I tried a bi-carb spray- 2 teaspoons of bi-carb to 1LT or water and spray both top, bottom and stems and it clears it up almost instantly, although with the current change in weather I do find I have to repeat every few days. Iv read The bicarbonate of soda makes the leaf surface alkaline and this inhibits the germination of fungal spores.... give it a go and let me know what you think

Cheers!; March 18, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Chandramouli S said...: Oh dear, hope they go away! Is it necessary to use full cream milk?; March 19, 2010 at 3:58 PM
Chandramouli S said...: BTW, what's the concentration to be used?; March 19, 2010 at 3:59 PM
PJ said...: Funkybunny - I think all of Melbourne will be suffering from this given our weather conditions! Nice harvest this week BTW, hope the soup was lovely.

Jamie - turns out my Habanero eating friend used up all the full cream milk when my dare to eat a whole one raw went a little bit awry! I just figured full cream rather than the lactose free stuff I have to use might help

Yellow Thumb - thanks for the great advice, I'll give it a go! Milk spray has reduced it in the past, but I never noticed it is killed it or just left the new leaves healthy

Chandramouli - Still not sure about full cream/skim milk but the ratio is 1:10, so I did 10mls of milk and 90 mls of water in a spray bottle. Hope your garden is going well; March 19, 2010 at 4:38 PM
Jamie said...: Prue, that's funny about the habaneros. They're deadly.

A cookery writer who I met several years ago told me about her husband, who fancied himself as a raw chilli eater. He even took whole chillies with him to restaurants to slice up over food he considered not hot enough. Then, one day, when he sliced up a habanero which he had taken with him when he ate out, he ended up on the floor begging for water, milk, anything! Face red with both pain and embarrassment!; March 19, 2010 at 6:03 PM